


Cartilage

by LinksLipsSinkShips



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Coming Out, M/M, cartilage piercing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-15 03:14:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12312675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinksLipsSinkShips/pseuds/LinksLipsSinkShips
Summary: Link used to have a cartilage piercing in high school.He talks about it in this unlisted More.





	Cartilage

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shewasjustagirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shewasjustagirl/gifts).



It started with an earring.

One single, simple earring, a cartilage piercing. Link thought maybe Rhett would get the message this time, finally, after all of his attempts. How many obviously not-straight things did Link have to do before Rhett actually woke up to the fact that maybe, just maybe, his best friend wasn’t straight?

But somehow, when Link got the piercing, nothing changed. It hurt, seriously, it hurt like hell. The piercing wasn’t the painful part, no. The healing, that’s what hurt like a bitch. Link was allergic to the metal the piercer used, and his ear got infected, dripping some bizarre greyish pus. Still, Rhett said nothing.  _ There’s no way he can’t see it,  _ Link thought. But Rhett acted like he had no clue Link had chosen this sudden new accessory.

Link cleaned his ear religiously, trying hard to keep the infection from scarring. He even got the earring replaced with one that wouldn’t hurt him so badly, something he wasn’t allergic to. The jewelry change happened, and Rhett still said nothing. Link was frustrated. The gold earring had to stand out against his bleach-blonde hair.

But it went unnoticed. Link started to wonder if he’d end up having to come out and tell Rhett. Pun intended, of course.

What would Link even say? “Oh, by the way, I’m gay and also I’m in love with you”? His hope was that Rhett would just get it, would  _ ask  _ at least, so Link wouldn’t have to initiate the conversation. If Rhett asked, Link could judge his reaction to the gay part before telling him the rest, the love part.

Link had been trying to get Rhett’s attention, get him to ask for months. Before the earring it was the dyed hair, and before that, the clothes he wore, the way he carried himself. Any gay man looking at Link probably would have described him as a twink, and Link was okay with that. He  _ wanted  _ Rhett to notice, to say something, to ask so he could tell.

But Rhett stayed quiet, and Link kept waiting, hoping for something, anything. But nothing.

When the piercing finally healed, Link removed it. The very first day that he could safely take the earring out, he did. There was no reason to keep it in… it hadn’t served its purpose.

“Hey, where’d your earring go?” Rhett asked, leaning against the locker next to Link’s.

“You mean you actually noticed it?” This was the first time Rhett had mentioned it, and until now Link wasn’t sure he’d even seen it, much less cared whether or not Link was wearing it.

“Yeah, of course I did. Looked cool.”

Link blushed at the compliment, then kicked himself. Why was he blushing? Rhett was only trying to be nice. And Rhett hadn’t mentioned the message Link was trying to send. Was Rhett intentionally not asking?

“Yeah, I dunno, it kind of bothered my ear so I figured I’d give it a break for a day or two. I might put it back in later.”

As soon as Link got home from school, he put the earring back in. Rhett must not have said anything until it was gone because he didn’t want Link to know that he knew. Link figured it was his way of dismissing things. But Rhett said it looked cool, and Link wanted Rhett to think he looked cool, so he wore it anyway. But the next day at the lockers, Rhett said nothing, not a word to mention that the earring had returned.

“Hey, I put my earring back in.” If Rhett wasn’t going to mention it, Link was going to bring it up, force the conversation.

“Yeah, cool. I like it.” Rhett closed his locker door. “We’re going to be late to class. But you wanna go to the river after school?”

“Sure.” Link slammed his locker and sulked to class. Why was Rhett avoiding it so much? Why didn’t he want to talk about Link’s earring? About what it  _ meant _ . Rhett  _ did _ know what it meant, right? At the river it would be just the two of them, and Link figured he might have to actually say it, since it seemed like Rhett would never actually ask.

As they sat side-by-side on the river bank, Link peeled his shirt off and dangled his feet in the water. Rhett followed suit, taking his shirt off, too. Link reached up and fiddled with his earring.

“Hey, Link?”

“Yeah?”

“Did it hurt?” Rhett didn’t turn his head to look at Link, instead looking out of the corner of his eye toward him, like he didn’t want to make eye contact during the conversation. Link figured that wasn’t a good sign.

“Did what hurt?” Link was going to make Rhett spell it out, to make him acknowledge it.

“Your ear thing, man. What else would I be talkin’ about?”

“Oh. Yeah, it did, I guess. The healing part was kind of the worst part.”

“Did you… uh…” Rhett paused, like he was trying to figure out the next words to say. “Did you get it on your left ear for any particular reason?”

This was it, Rhett was finally asking.

“Yeah, I did.”

“Oh.” Rhett seemed upset by the answer Link gave, like it wasn’t the one he wanted to hear. Link’s eyes started to well with tears, and he looked at the ground beside him, away from Rhett, so Rhett wouldn’t see how his disappointment stung. “I, uh…” Rhett started again. “I guess if I got mine done some time, I’d probably do my right ear instead.”

Link thought about this, about the words Rhett had chosen. Of  _ course  _ Rhett said he’d get the other ear done. It was an easy way to let Link down, to say “message received.” He knew Link was gay, he was obviously quite straight, and he was definitely not interested. Link wanted to appreciate this easy way of letting him down, but after all this time, he really needed Rhett to  _ say it. _

“Yeah? Any particular reason you’d go with the right side, Rhett?” Link  _ needed  _ Rhett to tell him he wasn’t interested, that they were just friends.

Rhett took a deep breath, exhaling slowly, then inhaling again, trying to stall. Link braced himself.

“Because if I got the right ear done then I guess everybody would know I’m gay.” Rhett said the words all in a rush.

“Rhett, you mean the  _ left  _ ear, right?” Link remarked before actually processing what Rhett had said, before it hit him exactly what Rhett had just admitted.

“No, Link, it’s not. The left ear’s the straight one. The right one’s gay. I thought you  _ knew  _ that since you got the left ear done. I thought that was why you did it on that ear.”

“I got the left ear done because I thought then it would be obvious!” Link was flustered.

“Wait, you’re sayin’ that you got the left ear done because…” Rhett let himself trail off, leaving Link to finish.

“...because I’m gay. Yeah.”

“You idiot, you were supposed to get the other one done, then!” Rhett gave him a shove, laughing. Link couldn’t help but laugh, too, realizing that in trying to show Rhett that he was very much gay and very much into him, he instead sent a message shutting Rhett down by implying he was straight.

Link reached up to his ear and removed the earring. He took it in his hand, looking it over, then threw it as hard as he could into the river.

“Guess I’ve got to get it redone, then.”

Rhett smiled, slipped from the bank into the water gracefully. He reached his arms up, like he was suggesting Link join him. Link slid into the water, too, giving a slight shudder as the cool flow of the river washed around him.

Rhett stepped toward him, wrapping an arm around Link’s waist, around his back. He cupped Link’s chin with his other hand.

“So you were tryin’ to send some sort of message with your little fashion statement?” Rhett asked.

“Maybe,” Link responded, looking into Rhett’s eyes, made greener from the water and the trees that surrounded them, giving them privacy, a quiet space to talk this out.

“Maybe?”

“Yeah, maybe.” Link lifted on his toes, feeling the bottom of the river squish between them. He steadied himself with a hand on Rhett’s shoulder, holding himself close to Rhett’s height, then kissed him. They didn’t get much swimming done, instead losing themselves in exchanged kisses and hushed confessions under the late spring sunlight.

It ended with an earring.

Rhett held Link’s hand as the piercer held his ear in place. Minutes before, Link had gotten his cartilage pierced,  _ again _ , a single ring in the right ear this time. Now it was Rhett’s turn, his lobe in the gun, and with a soft  _ click _ , a small gold-and-diamond stud entered his right ear.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to clemwasjustagirl/shewasjustagirl for listening to me ramble about this all day, and then editing my sloppy fic into a much better one.


End file.
